Personal Profile of Prof. Sybilla Beckmann

Sybilla Beckmann is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Georgia. She has a PhD in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania and taught at Yale University as a J. W. Gibbs Instructor of Mathematics. Beckmann has done research in Arithmetic Geometry, but her current main interests are the mathematical education of teachers and mathematics content for students at all levels, but especially for Pre-K through the middle grades. Beckmann developed three mathematics content courses for prospective elementary school teachers at the University of Georgia and wrote a book for such courses, Mathematics for Elementary Teachers, published by Addison-Wesley, now in a third edition. She is interested in helping college faculty learn to teach mathematics content courses for elementary and middle grades teachers, and she works with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows toward that end. As part of this effort, Beckmann directs the Mathematicians Educating Future Teachers (MEFT) component of the University of Georgia Mathematics Department’s VIGRE II grant. Beckmann: was a member of the writing team of NCTM’s Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten through Grade 8 Mathematics, was a member of Committee on Early Childhood Mathematics of the National Research Council and co-author of its report, Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity, has worked on the development of several state mathematics standards, and was a member of the mathematics writing team for the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Several years ago Beckmann taught an average 6th grade mathematics class every day at a local public school in order to better understand school mathematics teaching. Beckmann has won several teaching awards, including the General Sandy Beaver Teaching Professorship awarded by the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia.

Mathematical Education of Teachers: Recommendations of the Mathematical Education of Teachers II
Sybilla Beckmann (University of Georgia), William McCallum (University of Arizona)

Location

MSRI: Simons Auditorium

Video

Abstract

In November 2012, the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences published The Mathematical Education of Teachers II, updating the original MET document and making recommendations for the mathematics that teachers should know and how they should come to know that mathematics. The speakers, who were the lead authors for the elementary, middle level and high school chapters, will discuss the recommendations of the MET II.